If you have ever drove past Chariho High School, the one thing that could possibly grab your attention might be how isolated it is. Chariho's campus is surrounded completely by turf fields and is located on 453 Switch Road in a rural village of Wood River Junction, in the town of Richmond, which is about 40 miles or so south of Providence. The school has 1,249 students from the surrounding towns of Charlestown, Richmond, and Hopkinton. Charlestown has a population of about 8,208, Richmond's population is around 7,740, and Hopkinton has a population of about 8,051 equaling just around 24,000 people living in the Chariho region (City Data Rhode Island, 2007). The main highlights that I will look into for this school is the community background, district summary, and the school analysis. This information will help give insight to the strengths and weaknesses of this school as a whole to the new teacher and students coming in each year.
Community Background
With the community of Chariho being made up of a combination of different towns there are many different point of views to take into consideration. "Chariho Regional High School aspires to be a community of learners founded on respect, responsibility, and courage," which is the mission statement in the High School's improvement plan (Chariho.k12, 2000). Chariho is not an actual community, it is more or less a group of communities put into one. Although each of these subdivisions of Chariho have their own community, along with their own funding.
The first ancestors reported in the Chariho area were mainly the Irish but is has been ever growing since. Chariho is in a 100% rural population, with an average value of $264,206 for a house, and 34 years of age being the average resident (City Data Rhode Island, 2007) . The average household size is 3.0 people in this district, and an average household income of $57,042. The poverty level in this district was just about the same as the state being 11% (School Data Direct, 2007).
When it comes to support for the community most of the parents feel that they are giving it their all, where as others feel much more could be done to improve. Out of all the parents in the state 80% of them feel that the community supports the school, where as only 60% of the parents from Chariho feel that the community supports the high school (Public School Review, 2003). When it comes to the teachers contacting the parents at Chariho, the percentages are higher then the states in each category, whether the child needs help or is improving, or the teacher is just responding back to a request from the parents (Public School Review, 2003). Since the parents are so involved in the support of the schools, it makes it that much more important for the teachers to keep in contact with these parents, no matter how the student is doing. The community also provides Adult education, which is primarily through two kinds of programs, vocational training for adults and general interest vocational courses.
District Summary
The school district of Chariho is made up of three conjoining towns, including Charlestown, Richmond, and Hopkinton, and it also includes the Narragansett Native American community. Chariho's school name is made up from the first few letters of the three surrounding towns in the school district; CHArlestown, RIchmond, HOpkinton (Chariho.k12, 2000).
With Chariho being located in the rural village of Wood River Junction, geographically, Chariho is the largest school district when it comes to the amount of land, in the state of Rhode Island. With the miles of turf fields surrounding the schools campus, Chariho encompasses over 125 square miles (American Fact Finder, 2006). Since this district is so large, there are four elementary schools, a middle school, a high school, and a career and technical center all within the same general area.
The 1,249 kids in the school are made up of 97% White, 1% Asian, 1% African American, 1% Hispanic, and 1% Native American, and all of which only speak English as their primary language (Public School Review, 2003). Of the 1,249 students attending Chariho Regional High School, 434 of them are part of the career and technical center (Chariho.k12, 2000). This program is made up of tuition-paying students that are attending from the neighboring communities including Narragansett, Westerly, South Kingstown, and even Block Island. The career and technical center has programs in Automtotives, Carpentry, Computer Electronics, Cosmetology, Culinary Arts, Drafting, Graphics, Health Occupation, Marine Tech, as well as a few others (Chariho.k12, 2000).
This district compared to the states average scores for the most part were higher in the education areas, but lower in the dropouts, suspension, and violence rates. Chariho's dropout rate was only 9% where as the states was 15%, and the suspension for Chariho was only 19.3%, and the state was 53.1%. Most of the suspensions were for fighting in school, or skipping out on class or detention (Information Works, 2006). The teacher student ration for this district was 1:12, while the states was 1:11. The total classroom teachers are 105 for each of the 1,249 students attending.
Chariho High school assessments results in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) were exceptionally higher than the states in each of the categories performed. The Characteristics of the students in the high school with the highest of the grades in Math and ELA were white, nonpoverety, without disabilities, and for the most part there was no difference between males or females, except in the ELA the females were almost 15% higher then the males. The % male to % of female was 53% male and 47% female for Chariho (Public School Review, 2003).
School Analysis
In the No Child Left Behind Report Card on Chariho Regional High School, it showed that the percentage of students attending this school not only exceeded the Target Rate in each category but they had higher scores than the State as well. With a Target Rate of 95.0% for both ELA and Mathematics, Chariho scored 99.3% in both sections, and the state scored 97.7% in both. The Graduation Rate, has a Target of 75.3%, Chariho met the target with 91% graduation, and the state had an 85.2% graduation (School Data Direct, 2007). When looking at the NCLB summary, the school as of 2006 had met the target in each category including both Reading and Math for participation and proficiency. Chariho was also considered a High Performing school, making adequate yearly progress (School Data Direct, 2007). All the students at Chariho scored almost 20% higher than the target to met in Reading proficiency, and 28% higher in the Math proficiency. The students only received 4.3% higher score in the Reading participation rate, as well as the Math participation rate (School Data Direct, 2007).
From the students' point of view at Chariho, about 53% of them feel that they can talk to a teacher or other staff about academic issues, but only 17% feel they can talk to the teachers or other staff about personal or family problems. Unfortunately almost half of the students are to afraid to speak up to their teachers about academic issues, I feel that the percentage should be much higher for that one. When they mentioned that 17% talk about personal problems with their teachers, I actually felt that percentage was pretty high for high school. When it comes to the safety of this school, 25% of the kids admit to being robbed once or more, along with 35% saying that someone tired to sell them drugs once or more. About 11% feel they are teased or bothered enough for it to be a hassle, and around 16% of the students do not get along with the teachers enough where it is a big problem for them. Only about 12% of the students are eligible for a free or reduced lunch, which implies that the poverty level at Chariho is low (Public School Review, 2003).
Conclusion
Overall I would say that Chariho is a great school to look into, either for a teacher position or even to send your children. With high standards met in every category, a great graduation rate, and plenty of open space with not a lot of crime makes Chariho an ideal school for almost anyone. The community is set in a nice rural location, with multiple areas to chose from, varying in population and sights. On the other hand the district is not a very diverse setting, but there is still a lot to offer everyone. Lastly the school analysis itself came out above the states averages in just about all categories, which is outstanding.
Chariho has high standards in teacher and with learning, and aspires to be respectful, responsible, and courageous. Chariho has started different teaching styles to keep up with technology and the eager to learn students. The only major downfall to Chariho is that it's a little overcrowded for its size. It still works fine, there are plenty of seating in each classroom for all the students, but it does get a little crowded in the hallways between classes.
References
"Chariho Regional School District." Chariho. New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Oct. 3 <http://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/>.
Chariho Regional High School
Peer Edit
Introduction
If you have ever drove past Chariho High School, the one thing that could possibly grab your attention might be how isolated it is. Chariho's campus is surrounded completely by turf fields and is located on 453 Switch Road in a rural village of Wood River Junction, in the town of Richmond, which is about 40 miles or so south of Providence. The school has 1,249 students from the surrounding towns of Charlestown, Richmond, and Hopkinton. Charlestown has a population of about 8,208, Richmond's population is around 7,740, and Hopkinton has a population of about 8,051 equaling just around 24,000 people living in the Chariho region (City Data Rhode Island, 2007). The main highlights that I will look into for this school is the community background, district summary, and the school analysis. This information will help give insight to the strengths and weaknesses of this school as a whole to the new teacher and students coming in each year.
Community Background
With the community of Chariho being made up of a combination of different towns there are many different point of views to take into consideration. "Chariho Regional High School aspires to be a community of learners founded on respect, responsibility, and courage," which is the mission statement in the High School's improvement plan (Chariho.k12, 2000). Chariho is not an actual community, it is more or less a group of communities put into one. Although each of these subdivisions of Chariho have their own community, along with their own funding.
The first ancestors reported in the Chariho area were mainly the Irish but is has been ever growing since. Chariho is in a 100% rural population, with an average value of $264,206 for a house, and 34 years of age being the average resident (City Data Rhode Island, 2007) . The average household size is 3.0 people in this district, and an average household income of $57,042. The poverty level in this district was just about the same as the state being 11% (School Data Direct, 2007).
When it comes to support for the community most of the parents feel that they are giving it their all, where as others feel much more could be done to improve. Out of all the parents in the state 80% of them feel that the community supports the school, where as only 60% of the parents from Chariho feel that the community supports the high school (Public School Review, 2003). When it comes to the teachers contacting the parents at Chariho, the percentages are higher then the states in each category, whether the child needs help or is improving, or the teacher is just responding back to a request from the parents (Public School Review, 2003). Since the parents are so involved in the support of the schools, it makes it that much more important for the teachers to keep in contact with these parents, no matter how the student is doing. The community also provides Adult education, which is primarily through two kinds of programs, vocational training for adults and general interest vocational courses.
District Summary
The school district of Chariho is made up of three conjoining towns, including Charlestown, Richmond, and Hopkinton, and it also includes the Narragansett Native American community. Chariho's school name is made up from the first few letters of the three surrounding towns in the school district; CHArlestown, RIchmond, HOpkinton (Chariho.k12, 2000).
With Chariho being located in the rural village of Wood River Junction, geographically, Chariho is the largest school district when it comes to the amount of land, in the state of Rhode Island. With the miles of turf fields surrounding the schools campus, Chariho encompasses over 125 square miles (American Fact Finder, 2006). Since this district is so large, there are four elementary schools, a middle school, a high school, and a career and technical center all within the same general area.
The 1,249 kids in the school are made up of 97% White, 1% Asian, 1% African American, 1% Hispanic, and 1% Native American, and all of which only speak English as their primary language (Public School Review, 2003). Of the 1,249 students attending Chariho Regional High School, 434 of them are part of the career and technical center (Chariho.k12, 2000). This program is made up of tuition-paying students that are attending from the neighboring communities including Narragansett, Westerly, South Kingstown, and even Block Island. The career and technical center has programs in Automtotives, Carpentry, Computer Electronics, Cosmetology, Culinary Arts, Drafting, Graphics, Health Occupation, Marine Tech, as well as a few others (Chariho.k12, 2000).
This district compared to the states average scores for the most part were higher in the education areas, but lower in the dropouts, suspension, and violence rates. Chariho's dropout rate was only 9% where as the states was 15%, and the suspension for Chariho was only 19.3%, and the state was 53.1%. Most of the suspensions were for fighting in school, or skipping out on class or detention (Information Works, 2006). The teacher student ration for this district was 1:12, while the states was 1:11. The total classroom teachers are 105 for each of the 1,249 students attending.
Chariho High school assessments results in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) were exceptionally higher than the states in each of the categories performed. The Characteristics of the students in the high school with the highest of the grades in Math and ELA were white, nonpoverety, without disabilities, and for the most part there was no difference between males or females, except in the ELA the females were almost 15% higher then the males. The % male to % of female was 53% male and 47% female for Chariho (Public School Review, 2003).
School Analysis
In the No Child Left Behind Report Card on Chariho Regional High School, it showed that the percentage of students attending this school not only exceeded the Target Rate in each category but they had higher scores than the State as well. With a Target Rate of 95.0% for both ELA and Mathematics, Chariho scored 99.3% in both sections, and the state scored 97.7% in both. The Graduation Rate, has a Target of 75.3%, Chariho met the target with 91% graduation, and the state had an 85.2% graduation (School Data Direct, 2007). When looking at the NCLB summary, the school as of 2006 had met the target in each category including both Reading and Math for participation and proficiency. Chariho was also considered a High Performing school, making adequate yearly progress (School Data Direct, 2007). All the students at Chariho scored almost 20% higher than the target to met in Reading proficiency, and 28% higher in the Math proficiency. The students only received 4.3% higher score in the Reading participation rate, as well as the Math participation rate (School Data Direct, 2007).
From the students' point of view at Chariho, about 53% of them feel that they can talk to a teacher or other staff about academic issues, but only 17% feel they can talk to the teachers or other staff about personal or family problems. Unfortunately almost half of the students are to afraid to speak up to their teachers about academic issues, I feel that the percentage should be much higher for that one. When they mentioned that 17% talk about personal problems with their teachers, I actually felt that percentage was pretty high for high school. When it comes to the safety of this school, 25% of the kids admit to being robbed once or more, along with 35% saying that someone tired to sell them drugs once or more. About 11% feel they are teased or bothered enough for it to be a hassle, and around 16% of the students do not get along with the teachers enough where it is a big problem for them. Only about 12% of the students are eligible for a free or reduced lunch, which implies that the poverty level at Chariho is low (Public School Review, 2003).
Conclusion
Overall I would say that Chariho is a great school to look into, either for a teacher position or even to send your children. With high standards met in every category, a great graduation rate, and plenty of open space with not a lot of crime makes Chariho an ideal school for almost anyone. The community is set in a nice rural location, with multiple areas to chose from, varying in population and sights. On the other hand the district is not a very diverse setting, but there is still a lot to offer everyone. Lastly the school analysis itself came out above the states averages in just about all categories, which is outstanding.
Chariho has high standards in teacher and with learning, and aspires to be respectful, responsible, and courageous. Chariho has started different teaching styles to keep up with technology and the eager to learn students. The only major downfall to Chariho is that it's a little overcrowded for its size. It still works fine, there are plenty of seating in each classroom for all the students, but it does get a little crowded in the hallways between classes.
References
"Chariho Regional School District." Chariho. New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Oct. 3 <http://www.chariho.k12.ri.us/>.
“Curriculum and Instruction: Advanced Placement Exams. Rhode Island High Schools.” Information Works! School Year 2005-06.
http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2007/state/ap.pdf
"Public School Review" Chariho Regional High School. 2003-2007.http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/71498
"School Overview." School Data Direct. 2007. http://www.schoolmatters.com/app/location/q/stid=40/llid=118/stllid=247/locid=993776/stype=/catid=-1/secid=-1/compid=-1/site=pes
U.S. Census Bureau. American FactFinder. 2006. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet
''02894 Zip Code Detailed Profile." City Data Rhode Island. 2007. http://www.city-data.com/zips/02894.html
Peer Edit by James M.
CR EVAL - KAITLYN G